# Immunology and Cancer Immunotherapy (ICI)

> **NIH NIH P30** · DARTMOUTH COLLEGE · 2020 · $61,338

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract: Immunology and Cancer Immunotherapy
The Immunology and Cancer Immunotherapy (ICI) Program brings together 21 faculty, representing seven
departments at Dartmouth’s Geisel School of Medicine (Geisel), its Thayer School of Engineering, and the
Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health system (D-H), with research interests relevant to three central ICI Program
themes: 1) Immune regulation and checkpoint blockade, 2) Tumor microenvironment, and 3) T cell
immunology and CAR T therapy. The shared goals of the ICI Program are to: 1) drive translational immunology
research, 2) explore fundamental mechanistic questions in tumor immunology, 3) make ground-breaking
discoveries in cancer immunotherapy, and 4) initiate innovative immunotherapy clinical trials to study the
underlying basis behind successful anti-tumor responses in humans. Peer-reviewed cancer-related research
direct cost support currently totals $3.8M, with NCI funding representing 33% ($1.3M) and total direct costs
summing to $4.8M. Ten ICI Program Members currently have a total of 12 CCSG-defined R01-equivalent
awards. Using the same definition of cancer-related direct costs in 2014 (i.e., excluding all indirects as well as
training and administrative direct costs), peer-reviewed cancer-related research direct costs ($3.8M) are 58%
greater compared to 2014 ($2.4M). Since 2015, the ICI Program has 215 cancer-related publications, 21% (45)
intra-programmatic, 29% (62) inter-programmatic, 54% (116) with investigators from other institutions, and
17% (32) in high impact journals (i.e., impact factor >8). Compared to 2014, intra-programmatic increased to
21% from 15%, and inter-programmatic has increased, to 29% from 24%. Major future goals include an
immune checkpoint inhibitor research initiative to initiate an anti-VISTA clinical trial at NCCC, while continuing
to uncover underlying mechanisms of drug efficacy in the laboratory; advancement of cutting-edge
immunotherapy/molecular therapeutic combinations in clinical trials at NCCC, while extending collaborations
with investigators in the newly created CBT program; a tumor microenvironment initiative to translate cowpea
mosaic viral nanoparticle therapy from bench to bedside, in collaboration with the TEC program.; and, in
memory T cell and CAR T cell therapy, to advance the engineering of T cells in preclinical work, including
initiation of an NKG2D ligand-targeted CAR T cell clinical trial at NCCC.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9855315
- **Project number:** 2P30CA023108-41
- **Recipient organization:** DARTMOUTH COLLEGE
- **Principal Investigator:** Mary Jo Turk
- **Activity code:** P30 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $61,338
- **Award type:** 2
- **Project period:** — → —

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9855315

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9855315, Immunology and Cancer Immunotherapy (ICI) (2P30CA023108-41). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9855315. Licensed CC0.

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